


Adventures of a Foster Kitten Daddy

by rotrude



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cats, Established Relationship, Kittens, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 21:43:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11655312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rotrude/pseuds/rotrude
Summary: Merlin fosters kittens, but what does Arthur have to say about it?





	Adventures of a Foster Kitten Daddy

Arthur was dreaming and then he wasn't, the sound of Merlin's alarm – an instrumental version of Beach Boys God Only Knows – sounded across the room.

Merlin turned around in bed, mumbled a few words, then kissed Arthur on the cheek, and padded off. Since Merlin had pushed the snooze button, Arthur could go back to sleep. But that didn't mean he wanted to. He was awake now anyway and he didn't think he could settle down so easily again. 

With a grunt, he heaved himself off the bedding. Barefoot, he went into the living room. 

Merlin had turned the lights on and taken the kittens from their box. Now the four of them lounged on the sofa. 

Because they were new, Arthur didn't remember their proper names yet. There were two tabbies, one grey, one brownish, one with longer fur, the other with shorter, and two gingers, with different variations of white.

“You're awake,” Merlin said as he placed a kitten in his lap and fed him a formula bottle. “I'm sorry.”

“It wasn't the alarm--” It had been, but Arthur had often gone back to sleep right after it had sounded. He wanted to be up. Kittens might not be his passion – or his forte – but he wanted to be with Merlin. “It's...

“The beautiful 2 am air.” Merlin snorted but smiled sweetly, albeit a little blearily, as the kitten, the grey one, latched. 

Arthur ran a hand through his bed hair, then moved to sit on the sofa next to Merlin. “I can help.”

Eyes rounding with surprise and that look of love that always drove knives into Arthur's heart, Merlin leant over to softly kiss him on the lips. “You don't know how to feed them.”

“You do it.” It couldn't be that hard, Arthur thought.

“Arthur, I've been doing it for years and I volunteer with shelters.” Merlin put his fingers around the kitten's neck to make sure he was swallowing. “You... you've never even had a pet in your life.”

That was true. It wasn't that Arthur didn't like animals. He did. He even watched wildlife documentaries when they were on. It was just that he'd never wanted any for himself. When he'd been a kid he hadn't wanted to own a dog, had never pestered his father to get one, and when he got older he'd just had never thought to hamper his life with a pet. They needed a sort of attention and care that he, with his million activities and busy social life, couldn't provide. But that didn't mean he didn't want to help Merlin's fosters. Merlin loved them so, Arthur couldn't help but be drawn in a little. “Well, I now sort of have four, by proxy.”

“Mmmm.” Merlin smiled as the kitten pawed at the bottle, making small noises. “I'll let you try Obi One.”

“That's the brown one.”

Merlin laughed. “It's the ginger with the white paws.”

Once Merlin had finished with the grey tabby, he put Obi One in his lap. “Right. I want you to pay attention now.” Once Arthur had nodded, Merlin went on. “Kittens have to stay belly down when they feed.”

Arthur checked Obi One was. “Gotcha.”

“And you've got to place you fingers....”

Arthur knew that one. “Around their throat to make sure they're swallowing and not choking.”

Merlin beamed at him and handed the kitten over. “You're learning.”

Arthur had been watching Merlin. It came easy. It was something he'd naturally do, no kittens needed, though he admitted the little things were cute. Ever since he'd met Merlin, Arthur had been drawn to him. Before they'd even spoken, Arthur had felt that connection. Which was a little weird because Merlin hadn't been his type. He wasn't a sports junkie, he wasn't all muscle, and he was the thoughtful, bohemian kind. But that hadn't meant anything, had it? He'd engaged Merlin in conversation and sparks had flown. “I'm a quick learner.”

When the kitten started sucking, extending his pink-padded paws to grab at the bottle, Arthur had to bite back an undignified noise of delight. “You know,” he said, “there's something to this Merlin.”

 

******* 

 

The waiter served them their steaks, Arthur's medium raw, Merlin's well cooked. They were big juicy ones with a side of chips. Arthur cut into his with gusto, putting a piece of meat in his mouth even before it'd stopped being as hot as the fires of hell.

“You can go slower,” Merlin told him, pouring himself a glass of water.

Merlin started with the chips. When he'd eaten a few, he moved on to the steak. “So, tell me about your new boss.”

Arthur didn't like discussing him. He was a pain in the arse. “He's all right.”

“Sounds like he's an angel.” Merlin's lips quirked.

“It's not the fact that he's testing us.” Arthur understood he was new at the job, that he was young and learning. He had no objections on that score. “It's that he doesn't do anything himself. He only delegates.”

“Maybe if that merger happens.” Merlin suggested that with an eyebrow raise. “Uncle Gaius was talking about it.”

“I don't know,” Arthur said. “We'd be swapping a corporate set for another corporate set.”

“Then why don't you try and--” The alarm sounded and Merlin made a face at his mobile, which purred away from inside his jacket. “Oh, um, erm, I think it's time to feed the kittens.”

Arthur sighed and hailed the waiter. “Can we have the bill, please?”

 

***** 

 

Merlin put t-shirts in his canvas bag. They weren't sorted out by colour. Nor were they sorted by the length of their sleeve. They just got put in haphazardly. “You know you don't need to do it if you don't want to. Freya's willing to look after them.”

“I know.” Arthur watched Merlin go from the wardrobe to the bed where the bag lay open. “But I think I'm okay to watch over them for a few days.”

“I don't doubt your skills.” With a pile of trousers in his hands, Merlin stopped and looked him in the eye. “But you've got your job and, well, I don't want you to get stressed out and hate them.”

The truth was that Arthur would never hate Merlin's kittens, not only because they were his charges, but because he'd grown to, well, like them. “I won't. I promise.” He put a hand on his heart to indicate he did. “I can deal.”

“Alone?” Merlin pushed up an eyebrow the way his uncle Gaius did.

“You manage.” Merlin, Arthur had noticed, always had his schedule down pat. He'd never left a kitten go hungry or failed to get them to relieve themselves. It took some determination, considering how often the little ones needed those things done for them. “I can do it if you can.”

“If you're sure.” Merlin dropped his clothes and hugged him.

Merlin left on the five o' clock train to Edinburgh; Arthur was home alone with four kittens. The four of them mewled and meowed, moving about on legs that were still a trifle unsteady. “Right,” Arthur said, looking at them a little warily. “It's you and me. So you'd better, uh, behave.”

As the kittens called for their meal, Arthur made sure the formula they were to be fed with wasn't too hot. He dropped a few drops on his wrist. When he wasn't scalded, he went on. Placing one kitten in his lap at a time he began feeding them. “Let's show Merlin I'm a good kitten dad.” The first three latched easily and ate their bottlefuls greedily. The fourth, one of the gingers, was more lazy about it. Arthur made sure he was full by splitting the feeding in two. Once they'd eaten, Arthur looked at the kittens.

They were crawling one on top of the other, looking around, stopping to suddenly meow, whiskers trembling in the air. 

“You must go potty now,” Arthur said, sounding ridiculous even to himself. He had a stash of tissues on the table and had dragged the bin closer to the sofa. “And since your mum isn't here--” Which was why these kittens were fosters. “I must help you.”

Arthur grabbed one of the kittens and rubbed him on the lower belly with the tissue. Before long the kitten had peed on it. With a moue of distaste, Arthur put the kitten down and binned the tissue. “I'll never get used to this bit.” He spoke to the room. It was something he wouldn't have said if Merlin were here. “Kitten number two, it's your turn.”

Once they had all peed, Arthur put the kittens back in their basket, with their blanket, and teddy bear. He was about to go to sleep – he'd need it, if he was to feed the little guys in two hours time – when he turned around and saw Obi One was following him on unsteady legs. Arthur took two steps forward and so did Obi One. “I know what you're telling me.” 

Arthur picked up the kitten, lay down on the sofa, and put the cat on his belly. He fell asleep to Obi one purring.

 

***** 

“So.” Merlin waved from the window. In the street Gwen and Lance waved back, holding up their pet carrier. “They've all found a home.”

Looking at the floor where a stuffed mouse lay, Arthur said, “We should have given Obi One his toy.”

“Gwen and Lance will buy new ones for him.” Merlin turned around. “So I was thinking, what would you like to do now we don't have to wake every two hours to feed the tiny ones?”

Arthur actually already missed the schedule. “We can stay home, you know.”

“I was thinking a walk in the park,” Merlin told him. “Or we could go to that club you like.”

Arthur grabbed Merlin by the shoulders. “I'd love a walk but it's not necessary.”

Trying to read Arthur's face, Merlin hummed softly, “Are you sure? I could buy tickets for a concert or for the theatre. We never go.”

“Merlin--” Arthur placed both hands on his hips. “--what's the matter with you?”

Merlin bit his lips. “It's just... I love fostering, believe me. But I'm not sure you do.”

Arthur looked to the box the kittens had slept in, and to the window, with Lance's car driving away in the distance. He felt a small pang right in his heart. “I like the kittens.”

“I don't want them to put a strain on our relationship,” Merlin said. “I realise it's hard to wake every two hours. We're submerged in vet products and we hardly have time for us. I don't want all that to become too much.”

Arthur couldn't lie. At first he had hated those things. But it was no longer true, was it. If he looked inside himself, he found a small empty place where the latest bunch of kittens had been. He missed them. “It isn't. And you know what. I'm proud of you. Without you those kittens would have been euthanised. Shelters are like that. They have no personnel to look after such young animals, so they do what they have to.”

“I know but--” Merlin tilted his head to better gaze at him. “Are you okay with it? Are you really good with it?”

“Yes.” Arthur could say this without lying. “I might have complained a bit in the beginning--” he had almost forgotten that time. “But it's different now. The truth of it is--” He reddened. “--that I'm proud of you. For what you're doing and the grace you're doing it with.” Trying not to look at Merlin, Arthur made himself continue. “It takes a big heart and that's what I--” Love about you, Arthur thought, but didn't say. “What I appreciate the most about you. So no, we're good. Foster more kittens, adopt a few, save lives the way you do. I'm fully supportive.”

The kiss Merlin surprised him with was long, sweet and passionate.


End file.
